Feeling brain fried? Have some prawny delights.

Of late, my dearest mum, fuelled by the daily e-mail updates from Ching (supposedly accurate Chinese astrology) is under the impression my world is coming to a nasty end. True, I do get her daily Ching forwards, all of which for the past 2 weeks have "Sung: Conflict" written in big bold all over.

In a way, she might be right, I have been trying to express to the Immigration department here in NL what a bunch of nincumpoops they are, messing up perfectly organized applications. After the latest telephonic rendezvous which involved a lot of hand-waving, voice raising and calling them incompetent atleast thrice, I decided to call it a day. Being the foodie I am, what better form of consolation than a good bit of mum's prawn curry right? (yeah compulsive eating doesn't solve anything blah blah blah, mum's curry can bring back the dead, period).

Horror of horrors. I have managed to misplace or worse, lose my mum's Indian masala stash (garam masala: a powder mix of several spices by grinding them together). Its as if the dementors left Harry Potter and decided to suck out every last bit of restraint and hope I had.

So I hyperventilated, turned the entire larder inside out and was ready to kill someone. Really, if there was a Lord Voldemort, this would be a good time for wizards to send me out to the battlefield, I was surely ready to punch, jinx or curse somebody. My boyfriend, of course very smartly, kept far far away from my mere aura for the next several hours.

Yes, I have been catching up with all the Harry Potter movies, thus the non-Muggle, completely-random references.

 After contemplating life wasn't worth living, I decided to make my own recipe. A new take on the centuries old Moitra-family rice&prawn legacy that only a few have had the privilege of knowing.

Fast forward to Justin Bieber on full blast (yes, I have regretted that move ever since; turned the blue skies grey), some spices here and there, well fried prawns and veggies and VOILA.

This recipe is quick (everything from washing/chopping/cooking takes ~20 minutes), and it is definitely worth the wait, give it a try if you feel creative.

What you need (for 2-3 people):

300 gm Basmati rice
250 gm prawns
1 onion
1 tomato
peas (I use 1 cup frozen)
3-4 garlic cloves
1 inch ginger stick (or powder, whatever you have)
1 cardamom, 3 cloves, 1 tbs cumin seeds, 1 bayleaf (works if you use powdered forms as well)
3-4 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger stick (or powder)
Turmeric &chilli powder
Few drops of lemon juice
Salt to taste

Wash and cook the rice in a large container. I take proportions of 1 cup rice: 1.5 cups water. Add a lil salt and let it cook.

Fry the spices (cardamom/cloves/bayleaf/cumin), once they start sputtering add the onion, ginger&garlic. Whilst this mix fries, clean the prawns &de-frost them if need be.

After the onions have turned a lovely golden brown, add the peas, stir for a while then add chopped tomato to the mix. Once they start softening, add the turmeric&chilli powder.

Stir and reduce flame. Then add the prawns. Stir again, let the prawns cook for a while.

In a few minutes, add the cooked rice to the prawn pan and mix everything together on low flame. Toss it one last time over high flame and you're DONE!

There are truly no words to express how satiated I felt sitting with piping hot prawn fried rice, some juice and Harry Potter&the Half Blood Prince to start my evening.